Receipt of Request To Amend the Presidential Permit for an International Bridge on the U.S.-Mexico Border Near McAllen, TX, and Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico

Résumé

The Department of State hereby gives notice that, on March 16, 2009, it received from the chairman of the Anzalduas Bridge Board, acting on behalf of the mayors of McAllen, Hidalgo, and Mission, Texas, a request to amend the Presidential permit that the Department issued in 1999 for the Anzalduas international bridge on the U.S.-Mexico border near McAllen, Texas and Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico. The permittee proposes the removal of article 17 of the permit. Article 17 states that "[t]he permittee shall limit the initial hours of operation of the Anzalduas International Crossing to twelve hours per day, seven days per week for vehicular traffic." According to the Bridge Board's letter, the Department should amend the permit to remove article 17 so that the Department of Homeland Security's Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), working with the Anzalduas Bridge Board and Mexican customs authorities, can set the hours of operation of the bridge in accordance with demand and available resources. The letter says that limiting the operations of the bridge to only twelve hours per day is impractical and insufficient, and notes that other international bridges along the internatio